Inkling Small vs GLM 5.3 Flash
GLM 5.3 Flash leads llmrun Score 124.2 to 119.6; neither fits 24 GB.
Model A · Thinking Machines
Inkling Small266.0B · 1.7B active · Apache 2.0 · Jul 2026
Model B · Z.ai
GLM 5.3 Flash321.3B · 18.3B active · 1M context · MIT · Aug 2026
Choose Inkling Small if you want…
Fits a Mac 128 GB
IQ3_S · 116.2 GB; GLM 5.3 Flash needs 100.7 GB at its smallest quant
Lighter on memory
160.2 vs 194.6 GB at Q4_K_M
Also does chat
GLM 5.3 Flash doesn't list it
Choose GLM 5.3 Flash if you want…
Higher llmrun Score
124.2 vs 119.6
Ahead on the benchmarks
9 of 10 shared boards
On your hardware
Each model at its default quant (Q4_K_M), a smaller one when it must. Estimates, ±20%.
8 GB
RTX 4060 · 8 GB tier
Inkling Small
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 76.3 GB
GLM 5.3 Flash
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 100.7 GB
12 GB
RTX 3060 12GB · 12 GB tier
Inkling Small
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 76.3 GB
GLM 5.3 Flash
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 100.7 GB
16 GB
RTX 5060 Ti 16GB · 16 GB tier
Inkling Small
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 76.3 GB
GLM 5.3 Flash
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 100.7 GB
24 GBreference
RTX 4090 · 24 GB tier
Inkling Small
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 76.3 GB
GLM 5.3 Flash
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 100.7 GB
32 GB
RTX 5090 · 32 GB tier
Inkling Small
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 76.3 GB
GLM 5.3 Flash
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 100.7 GB
48 GB
RTX A6000 · 48 GB tier
Inkling Small
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 76.3 GB
GLM 5.3 Flash
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 100.7 GB
Mac 32 GB
Mac Mini M4 · Macs
Inkling Small
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 76.3 GB
GLM 5.3 Flash
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 100.7 GB
Mac 64 GB
Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs
Inkling Small
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 76.3 GB
GLM 5.3 Flash
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 100.7 GB
Mac 128 GB
Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs
Inkling Small
IQ3_S · ~97 tok/s
116.2 GB · up to 32Kbetter quant
GLM 5.3 Flash
IQ2_S · ~41 tok/s
112.8 GB · up to 16K
Reference GPU: RTX 4090. Tinted cell = the better pick on that machine (fits, more headroom, or at least 10% faster).
Overall
Inkling Small
GLM 5.3 Flash
Coding
Inkling Small
no data
GLM 5.3 Flash
Agents
Inkling Small
no data
GLM 5.3 Flash
Math
Inkling Small
GLM 5.3 Flash
Science
Inkling Small
GLM 5.3 Flash
Reasoning
Inkling Small
GLM 5.3 Flash
Inkling Small · #13 of 100 open models · #5 of 78 that fit ≤192 GB
GLM 5.3 Flash · #9 of 100 open models · #4 of 84 that fit ≤256 GB
Benchmarks
10 shared boards: Inkling Small leads 0, GLM 5.3 Flash leads 9 · Benchmarks imported Oct 2026
Inkling Small
88.5%#13/98 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Jul 2026
GLM 5.3 Flash
90.1%#9/98 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Aug 2026
Inkling Small
90.0%#14/86 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Jul 2026
GLM 5.3 Flash
93.9%#9/86 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Aug 2026
Inkling Small
46.3%#11/17 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Jul 2026
GLM 5.3 Flash
55.8%#9/17 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Aug 2026
Inkling Small
40.1%#7/19 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Jul 2026
GLM 5.3 Flash
65.8%#2/19 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Aug 2026
Inkling Small
49.6%#14/66 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Jul 2026
GLM 5.3 Flash
51.6%#6/66 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Aug 2026
Inkling Small
84.0%#7/19 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Jul 2026
GLM 5.3 Flash
91.0%#3/19 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Aug 2026
Inkling Small
17.1%#9/13 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Jul 2026
GLM 5.3 Flash
17.1%#10/13 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Aug 2026
Inkling Small
8.3%#12/66 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Jul 2026
GLM 5.3 Flash
15.4%#7/66 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Aug 2026
Inkling Small
6.0%#17/18 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Jul 2026
GLM 5.3 Flash
8.0%#15/18 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Aug 2026
Inkling Small
6.0%#19/26 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Jul 2026
GLM 5.3 Flash
21.0%#12/26 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Aug 2026
21 more boards (other shared and single-model boards)
Inkling Small
1404.0#46/187 open
ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026
GLM 5.3 Flash
1473.8#6/187 open
ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026
Inkling Small
1409.1#27/52 open
ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026
GLM 5.3 Flash
1605.5#8/52 open
ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026
Only Inkling Small (1)
- SimpleQA19.1%
Only GLM 5.3 Flash (18)
- LiveBench Coding79.0
- LiveBench Reasoning77.6
- LiveBench Math81.2
- DeepSWE63.4%
- FrontierCode31.8%
- APEX-Agents52.8%
- Chess Puzzles21.0%
- LiveBench 2026 Reasoning77.6
- LiveBench 2026 Browser84.0
- LiveBench 2026 Data Analysis76.4
- ALE-Bench303.6
- CursorBench36.8%
- FrontierSWE18.1%
- LiveBench 2026 Coding80.6
- LiveBench 2026 Long-Horizon28.4
- Surface Evolver Bench52.5%
- LiveBench 2026 Design77.2
- LiveBench 2026 Research70.1
VRAM by quantization
Memory to load the model and 2K context; below it, the total at 32K and 128K context. Lighter side in bold.
Q2_K
Inkling Small
114 GB~113.0 GB file
32K 119 GB · 128K 136 GB
GLM 5.3 Flash
138 GB114.2 GB file
32K 161 GB · 128K 234 GB
Q3_K_M
Inkling Small
130 GB119.4 GB file
32K 136 GB · 128K 153 GB
GLM 5.3 Flash
158 GB149.1 GB file
32K 181 GB · 128K 254 GB
Q4_K_M
Inkling Small
160 GB162.5 GB file
32K 166 GB · 128K 182 GB
GLM 5.3 Flash
195 GB188.7 GB file
32K 217 GB · 128K 290 GB
Q5_K_M
Inkling Small
190 GB196.1 GB file
32K 195 GB · 128K 212 GB
GLM 5.3 Flash
231 GB~228.9 GB file
32K 253 GB · 128K 326 GB
Q6_K
Inkling Small
220 GB218.9 GB file
32K 225 GB · 128K 242 GB
GLM 5.3 Flash
267 GB~265.1 GB file
32K 290 GB · 128K 362 GB
Q8_0
Inkling Small
267 GB280.3 GB file
32K 272 GB · 128K 289 GB
GLM 5.3 Flash
323 GB341.0 GB file
32K 346 GB · 128K 418 GB
10 more quants
IQ2_XXS
Inkling Small
73.8 GB82.3 GB file
32K 79.1 GB · 128K 96.0 GB
GLM 5.3 Flash
90.2 GB101.8 GB file
32K 113 GB · 128K 185 GB
IQ2_S
Inkling Small
not listed
GLM 5.3 Flash
102 GB113.6 GB file
32K 125 GB · 128K 197 GB
IQ2_M
Inkling Small
90.4 GB82.4 GB file
32K 95.7 GB · 128K 113 GB
GLM 5.3 Flash
not listed
IQ3_XXS
Inkling Small
104 GB97.9 GB file
32K 109 GB · 128K 126 GB
GLM 5.3 Flash
126 GB120.4 GB file
32K 149 GB · 128K 221 GB
IQ3_S
Inkling Small
114 GB107.5 GB file
32K 119 GB · 128K 136 GB
GLM 5.3 Flash
not listed
IQ4_XS
Inkling Small
144 GB127.4 GB file
32K 149 GB · 128K 166 GB
GLM 5.3 Flash
175 GB156.8 GB file
32K 197 GB · 128K 270 GB
IQ4_NL
Inkling Small
150 GB130.1 GB file
32K 156 GB · 128K 172 GB
GLM 5.3 Flash
not listed
Q4_K_S
Inkling Small
150 GB152.3 GB file
32K 156 GB · 128K 172 GB
GLM 5.3 Flash
not listed
Q5_K_S
Inkling Small
184 GB184.2 GB file
32K 189 GB · 128K 206 GB
GLM 5.3 Flash
not listed
BF16
Inkling Small
533 GB527.4 GB file
32K 538 GB · 128K 555 GB
GLM 5.3 Flash
644 GB641.6 GB file
32K 667 GB · 128K 740 GB
Inkling Small
Ollama · Q4_K_M
ollama run hf.co/unsloth/Inkling-Small-GGUF:Q4_K_MGLM 5.3 Flash
Ollama · Q4_K_M
ollama run hf.co/batiai/GLM-5.3-Flash-GGUF:Q4_K_M| Spec | Inkling Small | GLM 5.3 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Publisher | Thinking Machines | Z.ai |
| Parameters | 266.0B | 321.3B |
| Active parameters | 1.7B per token | 18B per token |
| Architecture | InklingForConditionalGeneration | Glm5NextForConditionalGeneration |
| Context | — | 1M tokens |
| Modalities | Vision, Chat, Function-calling | Vision, Function-calling |
| License | Apache 2.0 | MIT |
| Released | Jul 2026 | Aug 2026 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better, Inkling Small or GLM 5.3 Flash?
GLM 5.3 Flash leads llmrun Score 124.2 to 119.6; neither fits 24 GB. Choose Inkling Small for fits a Mac 128 GB and lighter on memory; choose GLM 5.3 Flash for higher llmrun Score and ahead on the benchmarks.
Which needs less VRAM, Inkling Small or GLM 5.3 Flash?
At Q4_K_M, Inkling Small requires 160.2 GB while GLM 5.3 Flash needs 194.6 GB, making Inkling Small the easier model to run on your local setup.
Can I run Inkling Small or GLM 5.3 Flash on a 16 GB GPU?
Inkling Small does not fit (smallest quant needs 76.3 GB); GLM 5.3 Flash does not fit (smallest quant needs 100.7 GB).